Re: Power Plant Pollution Linked to 30,000 Premature DeathsEach Year

["Patricia Milligan" <PXM@nrc.gov>]

the numbers that are quoted are risk estimates based on very conservative models and assumptions.  if all of these numbers were true, we'd be tripping over bodies on our way to the grocery store!  Its unfortunate when  the media and others get ahold of these numbers and interpret them as actual fact, without discussing the assumptions, the models and the methods used.  

Patricia A Milligan, CHP
pxm@nrc.gov
301-415-2223

>>> ruth_weiner@email.msn.com 10/19 9:44 AM >>>
This is another one of those "links" that defies common sense (see Biwer and
Butler, RISK ANALYSIS, 1999, p1159, that claimns 27000 deaths per year in
the U. S. SOLELY from breathing diesel exhaust and fugitive road dust).  If
the diesel exhaust claim were true, the city of Athens, Greece would be
completely depopulated.  If the cited deaths from power plant emissions were
real, how did we ever survive BEFORE air pollution control, let alone
survive in good health?  My husband and I grew up in Pittsburgh and
Baltimore, respectively, in the 1940s and 1950s.  Both cities had heavily
polluted air, from steel mills, uncontrolled municipal incinerators, diesel
buses, etc. -- they were much more polluted than they are now.  If we
extrapolate these claims of deaths, to those conditions, there would have
been significant mortality, and the Donora, PA incident of 1948 would not
have been cited as unusual.

The conclusions of these studies are based on linear extrapolations, and I
question also the correlations they make.

Lest someone misunderstands: I am not promoting air pollution as a good
thing.  Quite the contrary -- it should be controlled as much as reasonably
possible.  But just because it's nasty, unpleasant, dirty, etc. doesn't make
it the sort of killer that it is purported to be.

Ruth Weiner
ruth_weiner@msn.com 



-----Original Message-----
From: Susan Gawarecki <loc@icx.net>
To: Multiple recipients of list <radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu>
Date: Wednesday, October 18, 2000 5:21 PM
Subject: Power Plant Pollution Linked to 30,000 Premature Deaths Each Year


>Power Plant Pollution Linked to 30,000 Premature Deaths Each Year
>By Brian Hansen
>
>WASHINGTON, DC, October 17, 2000 (ENS) - Pollution generated by
>U.S. power plants is responsible for cutting short the lives of over
>30,000 Americans each year, more deaths than are caused by
>murderers or drunk drivers.
>
>The figures are contained in a groundbreaking new report unveiled
>today by a coalition of environmental and public health groups.
>
>The report, which puts forth a damning indictment of U.S. regulatory
>policies, is titled, "Death, Disease and Dirty Power: Mortality and
>Health Damage Due to Air Pollution from Power Plants."
>
>The analysis is the first ever attempt to quantify the deaths and
>other health effects attributable exclusively to the fine particle
>pollution produced by the nation's coal and oil fired power plants.
>
>As of January 1, 1999, coal fired capacity represented 40 percent of the
>nation's electric generating capacity in 1998. Gas fired capacity
>accounted for 21 percent; nuclear for 13 percent; hydroelectricity for
>13 percent; petroleum for 9.3 percent; and renewables for 2.8 percent.
>
><snip>
>
>The full text of the Clear the Air report on the health effects of
>power plant pollution is available on the group's Web site, located at
>http://www.cleartheair.org.
>
>Complete news story at:
>http://ens-news.com/ens/oct2000/2000L-10-17-15.html 
>
>My comment:
>
>I noted that this report doesn't attempt to quantify the deaths due to
>resource extraction (coal mining, oil drilling) or transportation,
>although the numbers cited for pollution deaths make for an interesting
>comparison to the 23 excess deaths predicted from exposure to radiation
>from transport of nuclear waste.
>
>I expect that these estimates suffer from the same shortcomings as do
>the risk assessments done on the nuclear power cycle, so don't be quick
>to hold them up as gospel.
>
>Any opinions expressed are my own.
>
>Regards,
>Susan
>--
>.....................................................
>Susan L. Gawarecki, Ph.D., Executive Director
>Oak Ridge Reservation Local Oversight Committee
>                       -----
>The LOC newsletter "Insights" is posted on our Web site
>http://www.local-oversight.org - E-mail loc@icx.net 
>.....................................................
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